This week, I met with Martha and Michael again to agree on a schedule to get the three animated sections completed in, as well as what shadow puppets needed to be cut from black card and logistically how the animation would be captured in the animation studio. We agreed on a schedule that fit around Martha’s shoot, so we’d have the main girls’ voices to match the animation to, and are aiming to finish the animation by late March so that enough time is left for the sections to be edited into the whole film successfully.
I began listing every puppet that would need to be cut out and created for the wolf and sheep section that I did the animatic for, in preparation for next week when me and Michael would begin making them. I calculated around 45 puppets (foreground and background) would be needed for my section, though this can be scaled down if we decide to digitally duplicate puppets like the sheep in the field that we will need a lot of.
When we met in the animation studio later in the week we decided we should work on an a3 size frame and Lightbox, meaning the puppets would be large enough to cut sufficient detail into them, but not so large that each one would take a long time to create, and I also got to have a look at the equipment and space, which was helpful in visualising how the animating would physically go.
I watched a few other Lotte Reineger films to get myself into the headspace of animating in a certain style, as Martha wanted a fairytale look to her project – a key feature of Reineger’s films and shadow puppetry. I also read some Hans Christian Anderson fairytales online and the art that went along with them for the same reasons, which Martha had mentioned earlier in the project. At this point, I think the whole process should be quite smooth. I’m looking forward to beginning the animating as well as designing and cutting out the puppets – I think it will be rewarding to see the sections come together once we have a good amount done, but the nerve-wracking part is the trial and error of estimating movement with little reference in puppet animation, as this process can eat up large chunks of time and is unavoidable. I’m also looking forward to using the proper animation equipment, as when I have animated in the past I have had to manually scan and mask each drawn frame which can become very time consuming and tedious, so I think using professional equipment should remove a lot of this fiddling.
Stills of Lotte Reiniger’s ‘The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)’
I found the talk from director Louis Paxton on Monday very interesting, though it didn’t strongly relate to the 4th year work I’m doing. He talked about the value in creating something on a smaller scale with people you know, and how this can lead to the best work as there is more personal input and drive tied to the product which I found very motivating. He also writes a lot of comedy, which is something I’m eager to try in my future films.
